Quest for Grothendieck

Update: I don't know if the story above is true or apocryphal. The website makes no appearance of being very credible or conventional and I got confused by the Epilogue wether the visit actually happened or not! 

Like another banal blog, copy pasting snippets of good articles. but its good for memory.

Quest for Grothendieck (his opposition to the corrupt scientific milieu) Via GaddeSwarup

His biography is not yet out in English. I have a copy of the French one Recolles et smolets

"I can't thank you enough for the help you've given me. I'll write to Alexandre Grothendieck tonight, mail the letter tomorrow afternoon, and catch the train early the next morning. I would like your opinion on one more thing: if his so-called 'idealism' really is so self-centered, why did he turn down a prize of over $120,000? He could have used the money to promote all of his causes."

Christian and Eric laugh in concert. Christian shakes his head :

" The rejection of that prize is the ultimate expression of the man's egotism. He didn't reject it because of his anti-militarism, nor his crusade against corruption in science. The explanation is much simpler than that: The Crafoord award had to be shared with a former student of his, Pierre Deligne. Actually the prize is 1.5 million francs, of which he was to get half. Alexandre hates Pierre Deligne more than any other living creature . If you get a chance to read his 2000 page essay "Recoltes et Semailles", you will see fully a third of it is devoted to his hatred of Pierre Deligne!!"